The invention relates to a furniture system, especially a display cabinet system, having a modular lighting installation which is so designed that a plurality of mutually delimited furniture compartments can be produced, it being possible to install a lighting member in each furniture compartment, and rod elements of a predetermined length being provided to carry the electrical current, which rod members are affixed inside the furniture unit. The invention also relates to a modular lighting installation for a furniture system and a furniture unit with a plurality of furniture compartments.
Display cabinets have to perform various functions. As the first function, they are required to present articles in a sales outlet, an exhibition, etc., the viewer having no access (or at least no direct access) to the article. The object displayed is intended to produce its optimum effect. In principle, in such cases, the design of the display cabinet should include a reference to the value and significance of the object displayed. For example, it will be inappropriate for a beautiful and valuable article to be placed on show in an esthetically second-rate display cabinet. On the other hand, however, the esthetic qualities of the display cabinet should not overshadow those of the object.
Preferably, the display cabinet enables the object to be viewed from all sides. It should therefore comprise a great deal of glass and few other structural elements. Finally, optimum illumination of the object should also be achieved. This means, in practice, that lighting members are to be installed in the display cabinet itself. For the manufacturer of a display cabinet, this poses the problem of designing the electrical installations in such a way that the visibility of the object is not impaired.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,978 has disclosed a low-voltage halogen system for glass display cabinets. The display cabinet consists of a plurality of glass panes directly connected to one another or inserted into a frame. A tubular lamp member, into which a plurality of low-voltage halogen bulbs can be inserted, is supported within the display cabinet by two supports. The supports, which simultaneously serve as a feed for the current, are passed through the base of the display cabinet. They can be designed either as stable rods or as flexible cables. As is apparent from FIG. 1 of that document, the supports are arranged close to the edges of the display cabinet. The current feeds are therefore independent leads within the display cabinet and not part of the furniture frame. The dimensions of the lamp member may be standardized or adapted to the display cabinet.
Display cabinets with integrated lighting systems are also commercially available. These are particularly esthetically satisfactory if the current supply for the illumination of the individual display cabinet compartments is integrated into a continuous vertical support. The support at the same time forms part of the framework structure of the display cabinet. It may be designed either as a stable section (for free-standing display cabinets) or as a wire (for suspended display cabinets). It is either electrified as a whole (which, of course, is possible only with low-voltage lighting systems) or contains an insulated busbar.
The disadvantage of most of the known commercially available display cabinets lies in the fact that they are not of modular design. The user therefore does not have the option of successively extending the display cabinet furnishing. Instead, he has to decide on a whole new furniture unit. The previously known modular display cabinet systems, however, are unsatisfactory from the esthetic and design standpoints.
The object of the invention is to provide a furniture system having a modular lighting installation, which is esthetically pleasing and can be adapted at any time (in other words, even at a later time) to the size of the furniture unit.
This object is achieved as defined by the features of claim 1. According to the invention, the rod elements serving to conduct the electrical current have the length determined in accordance with the internal dimensions of a furniture compartment and are, for example, mounted by mountings in such a way that each of them is located completely within a furniture compartment. Furthermore, electrical connection elements are provided which connect together rod elements of neighboring furniture compartments. The lighting member is connected to two rod elements of different polarities at a point that can be freely selected.
The concept according to the invention is thus based on the fact that the distribution of electrical current within a furniture compartment is undertaken by (standardized) rod elements which simultaneously serve as a support for the lighting members, and that rod elements of neighboring furniture compartments are electrically connected to form a continuous system with the aid of preferably standardized connection elements. In contrast to the prior art represented by U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,978, the rod elements are not passed through the base or any wall. This is an essential aspect of the modular nature of the lighting installation according to the invention.
According to an advantageous embodiment, the connection elements are of flexible design. They may, for example, be insulated cables with plug parts at their ends. The plug parts can be connected to corresponding plug connections of the rod elements. The flexibility of the connection elements permits simple retrofitting of the lighting. It is also possible to produce, using the same connection elements, not only straight connections but also 90xc2x0 connections (if, for example, two rod elements at an angle of 90xc2x0 to one another are to be connected in a corner within the same furniture compartment). Instead of insulated cables, it is of course also possible to use flexible wires, small link-type tubes or articulated current conducting elements.
Preferably, connection elements designed in branch form are also provided. the branching can in very general terms be 1:n (n=2, 3, 4, etc). In particular, 1:2 and 1:3 branches will be of particular interest. It should be mentioned here that flexibility is of particularly practical benefit in the case of branches. With rigid connection elements, for example, it will be necessary to keep stocks of differently shaped branches for each branching ratio (for example, on the one hand a branch with one 180xc2x0 arm and one 90xc2x0 arm and a branch with two 90xc2x0 arms). The connection elements can even consist of a plurality of parts that can be assembled by the user himself.
The mountings are, for example, so arranged and designed that the rod elements are essentially fixed at the two ends. In this case, the fixing is to be effective not only transversely to the longitudinal axis of the rod element but also toward the said axis. The majority of each rod element thus remains free for the connection of the lighting members at any desired point. Furthermore, the design is selected so that the connection elements can be connected at any time, as required, to the ends of the rod elements.
The mountings may in principle be a fixed component of the furniture unit. Preferably, however, they are interchangeable or can be retrofitted. At corner elements of the furniture unit it is possible, for example, to design mechanical connections which interact for fixing purposes with the mounting elements. Possible examples include plug, clip and screw connections.
The length of the rod elements is selected so that it essentially corresponds to the length of one edge of a furniture compartment less twice a connection region for the connection element. The connection region is selected to be as small as possible (e.g., 1-5 cm). Ideally, it is exactly large enough for a flexible connection element to provide, as preferred, a straight or a 90xc2x0 connection. If all furniture compartments of the furniture system have the same dimensions, the lighting installation can manage with one or two types of rod element. (In the case of cubic compartments, one length is sufficient, and in the case of cuboid compartments, one requires no more than two different rods of different lengthsxe2x80x94for example, one for leads in the vertical direction and one for leads in the horizontal direction between two vertical leads.) It is of course also possible to provide three or more different of different lengths.
According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the furniture unit has corner elements which are equipped with passages for the connection elements. The walls, tops and bases of the furniture compartment (which may consist of transparent or non-transparent material) are thus retained by corner elements within a frame of the furniture unit and are not themselves particularly adapted to the lighting system. Instead, the structural interaction between lighting system and furniture is confined to the (small) corner elements. In order to retrofit furniture unit with a lighting installation according to the invention, therefore, it is not necessary to replace the (expensive) walls, tops and bases. All that is needed is to replace individual (reasonably priced) corner elements.
Insofar as it is not perceived as disruptive, it is of course also possible to equip all walls, tops and bases with passages as standard, so that lighting can be installed in the furniture unit at any time. This is particular useful if the starting point is a furniture system whose design does not permit the use of replaceable corner elements.
In principle, the possibility is not excluded that the corner elements themselves simultaneously form or contain the electrical connection elements. The rod elements could, in such a case, be connected directly to the corner element. Finally, the mountings may also be integral parts of the wall, base and top panels.
From the detailed description that follows and the complete set of patent claims other advantageous embodiments and feature combinations of the invention will be apparent.